Earthquake

My nap turned into oversleeping and I woke up almost midnight. And like most of our generation’s behavior, the first thing I do is face every screen I can.

Earthquake.

They warn of a coming disaster. They remind of childhood drills that’ve been embedded in us. Like stop, drop, roll, they say hide under a table.

But what if?

What if this is your last night? What if you’ll sleep, wake up, do your morning routine, make sure to punctually clock-in the fishbowl that is your desk job? Is that really the last thing you’d want to see before you die?

Maybe we do need the warning. Maybe it’s not a warning of an impending doom. Maybe it’s warning us that we’re not living — that it’s as if we’re actually already dead — sleepless and already buried in boulders of debt of monotonous routine. Mindless zombies who smalltalk in lines and have a few minutes of lunch or dinner with others to feel human.

“Live as if you are dying,” says Steve Jobs in his popular commencement speech.

It’s quite a good wake up call, (literally since I just woke up). “Shake things up a little,” I hear Mother Nature whispering to me, “don’t dwell, don’t settle.”

We are most certain that it is inevitable for things to move forward; not necessarily life, or earth, or whatever reality we’ve come to know and, most especially, in the way that we want them to. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, yeah? It’s probably the one closest thing to the truth that we know: things will move on, in one form or another.

We are but a tiny speck in a tiny moment in this complex Universe.

If this is the last moment or day and it could all go away in a blink of an eye, we realize more important things because their value becomes inelastic. In the long run, in our best hopes that these are all just precautionary and nothing will happen, cherishing the value of these things become unsustainable. We’re reminded of a reality where things like responsibilities, commitments, and bills exist.

I have this prepper friend who founded Prepare Manila. They’re a group of hardcore prepeers who have the set of tools and skills to go beyond surviving an earthquake. If we really cared, a bunch of infographics that says don’t panic, don’t use the elevator, hide under a table or whatnot — if these are enough to make us feel comfortable about a grave earthquake forecast then it almost doesn’t matter, really. It doesn’t lean the odds to our favor that much. If it’s your time then it’s your time, some say.

I got inspired to write cause an old friend just messaged me a while ago, “…you’ll be a better you, I think, after this…” she sent in a random message.

“There’s really such a thin line, I guess, with pleasure and pain or maybe masarap din masktan. Haha parang tattoo,” she continued.

I guess there is merit in learning from the unexpected magnitudes of tragedy in our lives. , And yes, a new tattoo seems fitting.